On March 27th, I got an opportunity to go on the roof of Old Main. The goal of my adventure was to get a rough feel for the layout, to see if it could fit some new additions.
My conclusion was that Old Main's roof is fairly clutter-free, and may be considered completely open for Wind Energy designing purposes.
My next step is to find the most common wind directions. I have noticed that the wind is constantly flowing either West or East, but I need some way to record this. Anyone have any suggestions?
The pics below are of the roof of Old Main. To enlarge the pictures, just click them. The captions are posted above each one. Enjoy =)
The North-Western corner of the school is the most cluttered corner. It will be difficult to build any major additions here, but minor additions may still work.
The Eastern arm of the school (above the long hallway, parallel to McGill Road) is nearly completely clear of clutter. Anything could be added here. Depending on the wind direction, this may be the easiest place to add wind power.
This is another picture showing how cluttered the North-Western corner of the roof is. It doesn't look too bad from this angle.
This is a panaramic view of the roof, from the South-West corner. Very clear of obstacles everywhere visible. This one plays with the eyes a little bit (look at the roof tiles).
Pictures by Brandon Dallamore
Nice photos, that awesome that they let you up there.
ReplyDeleteTheres a teacher in the trades building who's an engineer and specializes in wind turbines. His name is Ben Guicidi (can't spell his last name). I plan on talking to him about wind power, let me know if you wanna come along.
I'm wondering if there is going to be any problem putting turbines on an existing structure. I'd think they need a pretty sturdy foundation. How are you going to know for sure if the structure of the building will be able to handle the forces. Maby you shold ask Ben Guicidi about that.
ReplyDeleteJordan, thanks! I've been trying to contact him for over a week now, but he doesn't answer his phone or reply to his voicemail!
ReplyDeleteCould you let me know if you talk to him? My number is 250-320-3725
Reece, I've looked into quite a few models. The rooftop ones I would be using would be light in weight, or placed on the edge of the building (directly on the external load-bearing walls). All should be good, but thanks for pointing that out!
The geography department runs the meteorological station (weather station) on campus and should have wind direction and speed data. I believe the contact for this is: Dr. Darryl Carlyle-Moses at 828-5235 (dcarlyle@tru.ca).
ReplyDelete